The Rarest Flower
by Silvani
Summary: The Occuria always meddled with the fates of Ivalice. Now one girl is brought there, for them to toy with. What fate does wait there for her? Original Character. Maybe Basch/OC in later chapters.
1. Prolog

AN: Hello possible future reader :)

This is my first story published on ffnet and also my very first one written in English.

As you could guess by that, I'm no native speaker.

I started this piece as an exercise for myself, but soon I got too many good ideas for the story to keep it all to myself :) So I think I will continue and (hopefully) complete my first story completely written in English.

Story: Girl falls into Ivalice, without the actual existence of the game. So no "drag-in-by-PlayStation". I will keep the storyline intertwined with the main story of the game with wide explanations of it, because I have one reader, who does not know the game at all.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, everything belongs to square, but Jasmine. She is aaaall mine!

.

.~.

.

**Prolog**

_The sun burned down on her, as she continued to walk toward the south. Or what she thought that would be south. She didn't know what her goal was, but she was sure it was in that direction. The skin on her bare arms and her face has been long burned by the unforgiving sun and started to blister. She was too tired to care anymore. Her only thought were those about water. Lots of water! She would give up everything just for a glass of cold water. And with that, she put one foot in front of the other and kept on moving. Head kept down, she offered as much protection as she could to her burnt face. The next time she glanced up she thought she could see the outline of a city on the horizon. Slowly recognition began to set in. This was her goal! The goal of her long journey! There she would finally see them..._

_

* * *

  
_

DRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

The pesky sound of her alarm clock shook her out of her deep sleep. Tired and disorientated she sat up in her bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. That dream again. It has been an unsteady recurrence in her whole life, but in the last weeks it started to come more regular. She still had no idea what the dreams meant. Usually they started to fade shortly after getting up, not that she had time to think about some stupid dream...She let herself fall back down into her pillows and was just about to drift off again, when the door to her bedroom flew open and her little brother barged in.

"Rise and shine, rise and shine, my dearest sister!", he chanted happily while walking around her room to open the curtains and let the dim light of the autumn morning inside.

"Shut up and get out!" Jasmine groaned, as she pulled her pillow over her head, to block out the much too cheery voice of her brother David.

"Oh come on Jessie", he muttered. "It's the same with you every morning. You will be late for work and tonight you will kick my butt, because I did not wake you up." Without mercy, he yanked her blanket away. Being robbed of the warmth of her bed, she sat up quickly and threw her pillow at her brothers head.

"Hey, not fair! That's assault with heavy weapons!"

"Don't be such a crybaby! Be happy it was just my pillow and not my night-lamp", she grumbled and finally got out of her bed and trotted towards her closet to gather her clothes for work.

"Well, now that I finally have your awakened attention: I will be late tonight - another study group for the exam next week. Adam insisted that we should look through our notes again."

"So you just stay away from home, when its your turn to cook tonight", Jasmine said with a wink as she started to dress – black leather pants, lavender halter top and gray pullover over it.

"Not that you really care", David said with a laugh. "After all you food is so much better than mine."

"Flattery will not help you to avoid your chores, you know? So you just volunteered to clean the bath tomorrow", she grinned and put on her glasses.

"Yeah yeah, whatever it takes to make my sister think she won an argument", David grinned back and hugged his 'big' sister (actually she was about a head smaller than him and a lot more slender).

"Be careful David and call me if it gets too late. I'll come over and pick you up."

"Don't worry, Jessie. If we don't finish by eleven I will stay over at Adam's. If you drive me with your bike I can not sleep after that. I will get nightmares for sure", he said with a wink.

Jasmine hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Are you trying to say that my motor bike riding is bad?"

"No, never", he drawled. "After all, _bad_ is a too good word for your riding style."

And with that, he jumped out of her hitting range and grabbed his backpack from the floor.

"I'll call you tonight Jessie. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!", he called over his shoulder as he left their small apartment.

'Don't do anything he wouldn't do.' She snorted. Sometimes he just forgot who was the older one of them. But maybe it was because both of them had to grow up too fast. She has been seventeen, as old as David today, when both of their parents died in a car accident. It was up to her since then to care of her little brother and herself. She had to drop out of school at that time and start to work to make a living for both of them. So today, eight years later, she already had her fill of different jobs and finally found something that she really loved to do. She was employed as an apprentice for watchmaker now and tinkering with the small gears really fulfilled her. She had a hand for figuring out how the things worked and improving them. Before that she worked at a car garage, which was great as well but she has been fired for some shady reasons. In her opinion the guys there could not stand that a girl was so much better at fixing cars than them. Damn male pride! They should choke on it.

After finishing her breakfast, she stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, where she fixed her dark brown shoulder-length hair into a low ponytail with some strands of hair falling out to frame her face. Then she put her contact lens in – after all she wanted to ride her bike to work today and her glasses did not fit under her helmet. She fiddled around with them a bit until she finally had a teary eye and the lenses in them. She was still not good with them and preferred her glasses after all. But unfortunately she had no choice, because she was as good as blind without them and _that_ was definitely not good for her driving methods. Not that she would admit that she did not drive well... She stared into the mirror a few moments longer and her gray eyes stared back at her. While gray was not quite the right word for them... more like foggy or maybe misty. Yeah, like mist at an early autumn morning. Just like today's weather...

"Stop goofing around and get to work, silly", she chided herself in the mirror and with that she stuffed her glasses into her bag, after setting them in their case, put on her leather jacket and finally left her home to drive to work.

* * *

Jasmine was really tired as she left the shop late that evening after finally figuring out how to fix that damn Rolex. Mr Berkley, her boss, had left about two hours ago while muttering something about women her age and having a social life and relationships. Yeah, as if she had time to care about something like that when she had a great job and tried to graduate from evening school. The only two man in her life were her boss and her little brother and she definitely did _not_ need another one, thank you. She stifled a large yawn while she put on her helmet and then started to drive home. Her day has been a bit strange so far, because every time she closed her eyes she could still see the desert region of her dream. Which was very unusual, as that dream normally did not linger in her head over the day. She yawned again, while she sped up to get home before David called her. He was in his last year of school and after that she could finally consider him an adult who could care for himself, like he always claimed he already did. Another huge yawn made her jaw crack a bit this time. She absolutely would need coffee when she got home and then she would try to study a bit. 'Yawn' Goddammit, she really was tired.

Later, Jasmine did not really know what happened. Maybe she just closed her eyes for a second or the darkness hid a pile of leaves on the street. But as she tried to drive around a curve, she felt that she lost her balance and her back wheel slipped away from under her. Her last thoughts before she collided with the trees on the roadside were about David. He would have to start cooking more often for himself now...


	2. Chapter 1

Her first conscious thought was that she would need a new leather jacket. Her second was, that she needed an aspirin. Or preferably a dozen. Jasmine's head felt like it was about to explode. But that was just marginally worse than the rest of her body. 'I hope someone noted the plate of the bus that hit me!' she thought and groaned from the bright sunlight that stung her eyes, after she tried to open them.

"Hey lady, are you hurt? You don't look so good!", a small voice sounded from somewhere to her right.

"I don't know", Jasmine rasped with her eyes closed again. "I think I got into an accident somehow..."

"Oh my! Don't move dear! We will see if we can fix you up, kupo!", exclaimed another - more feminine - voice similar to the first one.

Jasmine heard steps coming closer and then she felt a small hand, that wiped her hair out of her face. 'Strange! Somehow that hand feels furry...more like a paw than a hand', she thought and wondered if two voices belonged to paramedics.

"Don't worry! We have some potions with us that we can use. With them you will feel better in no time, kupo."

Jasmine then felt a small bottle being placed at her lips.

"Drink this. It will help you!", the first voice encouraged her. Jasmine gulped it down and the cool liquid ran down her throat. It tasted a bit like melon juice but more sour. But while she still pondered the taste of the liquid, her head stopped spinning and hurt a lot less. 'Wow, must be a new kind of painkiller' she thought and opened her eyes again. She was greeted by the very blurry image of a grassy surrounding and two small catlike creatures. Did she loose her contacts in the crash? Or maybe...

"I must have hit my head harder than I thought", she muttered and rubbed her eyes to see clear again.

"Are you feeling better, kupo? You still look pretty shaken", the right of the two creatures asked.

"Uhm, I think something is very wrong with my eyesight... I see two walking-talking cats in front of me...", Jasmine stammered and sat up very carefully.

"Excuse me, kupo!", the left exclaimed "I am absolutely _no _cat! We are mogs! You can surely tell the difference!"

"Mo.. what??" Maybe her ears were not working correct, too.

"No mo-what, dear! Mogs! Certainly we are not the first ones you see, kupo. Our kind lives in virtually all cities these days", the other one suggested amicable.

"I'm pretty sure I have never seen any _mog_ my whole life because I have no idea what a _mog_ is!"

The two looked at each other and some silent conversation took place. Then the left one laid a hand/paw on Jasmine's shoulder and squeezed it softly.

"Don't worry dear, we help you. Let's continue this conversation later but for now: can you try to stand up? The weather here in the Mosphoran Highwaste is pretty unstable this time of the year and we would like to reach a safer place before a storm breaks loose."

Jasmine took a deep breath and came to the conclusion, that for now it did not matter what her saviors were called. They had helped her and that was all that was important for the time being.

"I'll try", she said quietly and then got to her feet a bit wobbly. When she tried to put weight on her left leg, she nearly toppled over again and let out a small yelp of pain.

"Are you okay, kupo? I'm sorry dear, but we have no more potions left, you will have to walk like this."

"Then it has to be okay like this", Jasmine answered with a painful expression.

"Oh by the way, do you think the stuff that's lying around here is yours?", the right one asked and pointed beside her feet.

"Thank god, that's my bag!" Jasmine grabbed it and started to rummage through it. A few moments later she found the case with her glasses and put them on her nose.

"Wow, this is soo much better!", she said and then she saw her surroundings clearly for the first time. She slowly turned around while she let her eyes wander around the area. It looked like she was in some kind of mountain range with lush green grass and several weather-bent trees and from where she stood she could see a large plain - a desert maybe? - in the distance. Dark clouds were gathering on the horizon and a strong breeze blew them right into her current direction. Then she turned back to her saviors who waited for her to finished her survey.

"Oh my...", Jasmine trailed off as she looked at them, finally really seeing them. They were absolutely no cats, more like mini-sized humans. Both were about her mid thigh high and from what she could tell completely covered in light brown fur. The right one of them - the male one? - wore a blue coat and black trousers and the other one - female? - had a more formfitting red blouse with brown pants to it. Both also had huge ears, wings on their back and a red furball linked to their heads.

"Kupo! Stop staring already, it's embarrassing!", the left one said with a wink and then smiled widely. "I am Lulucce and my fellow here is Tetran", the mog named Tetran nodded his head. "We are traders on our way to Rabanastre, kupo. You can consider yourself very lucky that we found you. This path is rarely traveled nowadays." She looked at the heavy clouds. "And now, let's get moving or we will be some very wet mogs in no time."

Speechless, Jasmine shouldered her bag and started to follow them limping to an unknown destination.

* * *

The fire in the fireplace of the elegant decorated room was burning merrily, although none of the two inhabitants payed attention to it. Why should they, since the weather outside was nowhere near cold. Despite that it was an Archadian common to light a fire in every audience chamber, even if the city outside lay in the middle of a desert. Vayne Carudas Solidor, the Consul of said desert city, did not pay any attention to the gorgeous wall paintings or the antique furniture from times of the first Dynast King himself. He was accustomed to better, moreover he had no time to notice such irrelevant things.

"Those decrepit, basking fools in Archades tie my hands, and look what happens! I tell you, this country's obstinacy knows no bounds", the dark haired man said, looking out of a window onto the city of Rabanastre. His back was to the armor-clad person of a Judge Magister, the highest rank possible in the Archadian Empire's military.

"The insurgents in Rabanastre operate alone at present", the knight reported, standing at attention. "However, should they garner external support, the situation could worsen. We have found the counter-Imperial elements in Bhujerba to be conspicuously well-funded. No doubt Marquis Ondore is behind this. Ondore must be reined in."

At that the Consul turned around and took a paper from his coat. "By the way, the Marquis has written us a letter. He claims that he's recaptured our runaway. He's given him to Ghis." He moved toward a table and dropped the letter on it.

"He will die by my hand." The voice of the Judge was emotionless.

"Your fraternity is moving", the black haired man said with false sympathy and sat down at the table. "Ah, Ghis returns with Larsa. Tomorrow morning they will leave Bhujerba. See him home safely, Gabranth. Now, I'm expecting Doctor Cid. You may leave."

The Judge named Gabranth bowed his head lightly, then turned around to leave. On his way out he passed the announced visitor, Doctor Cid. He was a middle-aged man, his hair tinged with gray, who looked like he was vividly talking to himself.

"We must see the real thing to be sure. Nabudis taught us much! Yes, it's well hidden. They'll be off chasing after shadows, the fools. Ah, yes! The reins of History back in the hands of Man." He came to a halt in front of the table. "Hah, Vayne! You seem to be enjoying your job as consul."

"I was kept waiting fully 2 years. What news of Archades? Our honored members of the Senate?"

Cid waved his hand dismissively. "Hard at work as always, trying to find a dagger for your back."

A small sinister smile appeared on Vayne's face. "They are welcome to try. Now for that other issue you were requesting."

"Ah yes. I was informed by a reliable source that an important occurrence took place. I think we would need it for the continuation of our research. We should try to ensure its... assistance."

"I shall see what can be done. Maybe Ghis could take care of that matter."


	3. Chapter 2

AN: Hello again, here comes the next chapter of my little experiment. Never thought that my english vocabulary is so small :D

But I won't give up!

Thank you, Serendipitous-Rapture for your review. I tried to fix the dialog in chapter 1 a bit.

.

.~.

.

**Chapter 2**

"I think we should rest there for the night, kupo!" Tetran pointed to a small cave a few steps ahead. The three of them had walked for most of the day and the overcast sun began to descend behind the top of the mountains. As Lulucce has suspected, most of the time they had to walk through heavy rain but the feared storm held off until now. "It will be too dark to see soon and if we keep moving we could be attacked by nocturnal fiends. And I really need to dry my fur for some time now, kupo!"

"No Objections here", Jasmine said with a moan. "I don't think I have ever walked that much in my whole life."

She strode to the entrance of the cave behind the two mogs and ducked her head as she followed them inside. It was actually bigger than it looked from the outside and seemed to be frequently used by other travelers as well. A small pile of wood lay at the backside and in the middle was a used fire pit. Jasmine moved to the back wall of the cave and dropped down to the floor unceremoniously. There she removed her jacket and pullover and tried to wring out most of the water, that has gathered in it over the day. After she had done that more or less successful, she laid it out on the floor to dry and then she finally had enough peace to examine the damage done to her body and her clothes in detail. Good thing she always wore protective clothes when riding her bike, because most of her leather stuff was still intact aside from her left leg. There she had a big abrasion from her mid thigh down to her sneakers. And the leg under it did look much worse. 'Ouch, where is your first aid kit, when you need one!' Jasmine thought sourly while she rummaged through her bag to look for some tissues to clean the worst of it. The two mogs left her alone for now and she was really thankful for that. It looked like Tetran was starting a fire and Lulucce was trying to dry her fur with a towel, that she had fetched from on of their backpacks.

Jasmine found some tissues and painfully cleaned the wound on her leg and some smaller ones at her hands, then she leaned her back at the wall and drowsily closed her eyes. 'Well, I guess this could count as one of the craziest days in my life' and with that thought she started to doze off.

Jasmine started to wake up when the smell of something good invaded her consciousness. She yawned and pushed her glasses up her nose to rub her eyes. Then she looked around and observed Lulucce stirring around in a small pot and Tetran bend over something that could be a map. From where she sat, she could see that the weather has considerably worsened since they entered the small cave. She could hear a nasty rain pouring down and it was pitch black now outside, except the darkness was sometimes broken by bright lightning. At least it was not too cold. When she returned her look to Lulucce, Jasmine saw the mog smiling back at her.

"Food is nearly ready, kupo. Did you sleep well, dear? We tried to wake you but to no avail."

"Yeah, it was like shaking a rock, kupo!", Tetran interjected without looking up from his map.

"Don't be so mean, kupo!" Lulucce swung her spoon in his direction. "Or else, no Kupo Nut as dessert for you!"

Jasmine watched them argue and chuckled a bit. They were just like her and her brother David. And with these thoughts her ridiculous situation came back to her and she didn't feel like laughing anymore. More like crying...

"Oh deary, please don't cry. Everything will be okay, you will see." Lulucce looked at her with pity.

"Let's eat first and then we will see what we can do next. A full stomach always helps you think better." She handed Jasmine a bowl of food. "And now eat and smile again, kupo. It suited you so much better."

"Thank you, Lulucce." Jasmine smiled a teary smile and felt a bit better thanks to the kindness of the female mog, then she tasted her stew. It was nothing special but considering their circumstances and the fact that she did not eat anything since she had lunch at work it was like a feast for her. The three of them ate in silence, until Tetran unexpectedly put his bowl down and hit his forehead lightly with his hand. "Kupo it! Because of the whole accident and rushing business I think I did not actually ask you for your name. Sometimes it seems I'm more dimwitted than a seeq, kupo."

At this display of embarrassment Jasmine could not help herself. This mog was just too cute and maybe because of the craziness of her situation she could not react otherwise. She started to laugh uncontrollably.

"Sorry Tetran", she panted between two giggles, while the mog first looked taken aback and slowly more and more irritated. "Please don't be angry with me. But you just looked like a kitten, whose milk got stolen."

He huffed at that. "I told you already, kupo. I'm no cat at all!"

"Yeah, cats a a lot cuter than you and most certainly not that oblivious!", Lulucce remarked and started to laugh along with Jasmine. Tetran looked from one to the other and grumbled a "Woman" under his breath. But then he giggled, too.

After some time the laughter subsided, but Jasmine felt calmed down and was ready to do some serious and logic thinking.

"My name is Jasmine, but I'm not too fond of that name. I would prefer Jessie."

"Well then, hello to you Jessie, nice to meet you", Tetran bowed his head a bit and smiled. "And now that we made everyone's acquaintance, do you want to tell us was happened to you?" Both mogs looked at her expectantly, anticipating a good story. Jasmine took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started to tell her story.

* * *

"...well and then I lost control of my bike and after the crash I woke up here in the mountains. And I have a feeling that we are not in Kansas any more..." At that the two mogs looked at her her questioning. Jasmine shook her head. "Forget that last part. But I really think I'm nowhere near my hometown. And after what you told me about the region, Tetran, I'm not even sure that I'm still in my own _world_." After that she fell silent and leaned back at the wall of the cave.

Tetran put a finger to his lips, looking thoughtful. "Well, I can't say that I understand everything that you told us, but that desert in your dream you were talking about..." Jasmine glanced at him tired but expectantly. "I have an idea where it could be, kupo."

"Really?" She jolted forward abruptly and was wide awake again. This was something about her dream. For the first time all her life something concrete about it.

"Yeah, what you described could, and I say _could _be the sands around the city of Rabanastre."

"Rabanastre..." Where did she hear that name again? "Oh right, that is the city you were talking about earlier! You are traveling there, right?" Both nodded at that.

"Yes dear, we wanted to visit a relative of mine", Lulucce confirmed. "He is the head of Clan Centurio - Montblanc is his name and if you want -"

"We also want to stock up on goods there, kupo, since we are virtually sold out", Tetran interrupted. "See, we are on our way back from the Salikawood. Some mogs are there to fix the gate to the Phon Coast and it was a good opportunity to rake in some cash...ouch" At this Lulucce knocked her elbow into his side. "Err, I mean we were there to support them with our goods! Kupo, that is what I wanted to say."

Jasmine smiled at him. "Soo, since you are such a helpful mog", she drawled and peeked at Lulucce, who winked at her and nodded, "you surely have no objections, if I keep traveling with you? I would like to see that desert and the city for myself!"

Tetran seemed like he contemplated that idea and did not like it at all. Jasmine's smile started to fade. They would not leave her here alone, would they? But then Tetran started to smirk and she knew she could come along. She sighed with relief.

"And this my dear, was my husband's infamous salesman play." Lulucce smiled whimsically. "And now that we have decided what we do tomorrow, I say that we should try to sleep for today." She stretched her hands over her head and yawned. "We have a long path ahead of us tomorrow, kupo and we better gather as much energy as we can for that."

Jasmine put her now almost dry pullover back on and clustered her jacked to a pillow. She took her glasses off and massaged the bridge of nose for a bit, before putting them in their case for the night. Then she laid her head down onto her makeshift-pillow and tried to get comfortable on the floor. Which was not exactly an easy task. But because of the long day soon she started to fall asleep.


	4. Chapter 3

AN: Hello again,

sorry this update took so long, but I had to do some exams in the last month, that left me absolutely no time to write :(

But fear not, the next updates should be sooner, as I have a two weeks vacation now, yay!

Thanks a lot to everyone who reads this and even more to the people, who left a review after reading.

You really keep me motivated!

So, on with it!

.

.~.

.

**Chapter 3**

Jasmine was not really sure, what has woken her up. Usually she was sleeping like a log but maybe it was because of the unfamiliar noises of the wilderness. The rain from before seemed to have subsided for now and she could hear the chirping of some animals. Jasmine fished around in the twilight for a bit to find her glasses, put them on her nose and then turned around to lie with her head facing the fire pit. Tetran and Lulucce laid cuddled together at the other side of the it, but she could barely make them out. The flames had died down in the course of the night and were now mere embers. She watched them for some time while slowly falling asleep again.

There! There it was again, the sound, that has woken her up. An animal maybe? 'I hope it will not enter the cave' Jasmine thought with a shudder. Maybe she should wake the two mogs? But if it was nothing she would have disturbed them without any reason. And they looked so cute how they slept. Furthermore she was absolutely sure that the two of them were more experienced traveler than her and if something was wrong they would surely wake up. Or wouldn't they?

Suddenly the night around the cave started to live. She could hear a shout out there and two shadows slipped into the cave swiftly. Next thing she knew was, that she had a very sharp object pressed to her throat and a person completely dressed in armor with a strange helmet, that had a grotesque face on it was bend over herself.

"Do not move or I will stab you like a swine!"

Even if Jasmine would have wanted to do something that stupid, she was completely frozen with fear and could not even move a finger. Terrified she let her eyes flicker to the two mogs, but it looked like they were in a similar situation to her own.

"Come without resistance and neither you nor your companions will be hurt. Defy us and you will have to suffer the consequences!", the man said without moving his sword an inch. Jasmine gulped and with that movement she could feel that the sword broke the skin at her throat.

She tried not to flinch due to the sudden pain "Alright, we will come", she murmured with as little movement as possible. At that the pressure of the sword left her throat and she was yanked to her feat violently.

"Get out! Do not make any suspicious moves or you will regret it!" The man shoved her to the entrance of the cave with his blade in her back. She could hear Lulucce cry silently behind her but otherwise both of them seemed to be alright. Jasmine stumbled out of the entrance and was greeted by a small crowd of people, all with their weapons drawn and some with torches, so she could make out that they were all dressed similar to the one poking a sword at her back. One person, looking a bit different from the rest came strolling up and stopped in front of her.

"So, you are the one Ghis is looking for." Jasmine could not see his face due to the mask he wore, but from his voice she would say he was much older than the one who talked/yelled at her before. "Not as much of a threat as he thought. Bah!", that man spat. "Because of you we were searching half of the night in this rotten mountain. Corporal!", he barked to the knight behind her. "Take her to the Pandaemonium! Judge Magister Ghis has a personal desire to see this brat. The two sand fleas go with her." He nodded at three of the other man. "You will go with him and keep a close eye on her, just in case this wench is dangerous after all." The addressed soldiers saluted and started to drag them away from the cave. As Jasmine turned around one last time she could see him signaling to another man."Sergeant! You will search through the cave and gather the stuff that they carried with them. After that, we will return to the Leviathan! And now: Move it!"

* * *

The three of them were sitting deadly quiet on a bench inside the main hold. Three soldiers were seated across of them with their weapons in hands, the door was manned with two soldiers and one was standing beside Jasmine with his sword much to close to her chest. She had no idea why exactly they held such fear for her. She had no weapon and in her opinion she looked anything but dangerous. But somehow these people were getting nervous if she just took a deep breath. It was giving her the creeps. They were surely mistaken her for someone else. Jasmine looked down at her now cuffed hands. Solid metal chains. No way to move your hands for much more than one feet apart. This was madness! She was in a world where she should not be, sitting in a ship that should not fly through the air like this and was to be brought to some kind of judge, restraint like a dangerous criminal. Well, and she thought yesterday had been a bad day. Her whole body hurt like hell, one from the wounds of her accident, two from the long march yesterday and three from a night on a stonebed. Jasmine sighed for the umpteenth time today and looked at her two small companions. Both of them had handcuffs, too, just of a smaller size. They had no opportunity to talk since they have been kidnapped, so Jasmine did not really understand what was going on. But she hoped this misunderstanding would be solved once they had talked to that Judge something. Morning light began to seep through the small windows at the top of the hold and shortly after the noise of the flying vehicle started to grow different. Just as Jasmine thought, that they might reach their destination soon, another armored and armed man entered the room. "You!", he barked at her. 'Ah, surprise!', Jasmine thought sourly. 'The polite one from before. You could never guess.'

"Get up! We will reach the Leviathan soon and Judge Ghis awaits your arrival with great impatience."

Before the man to her right had the chance to hassle her with the sword, Jasmine got to her feet and followed him after his sharp nod towards the hatch of the airship.

* * *

After they left the small ship in some kind of hangar, Jasmine was led down a long, spacious hallway. The rude soldier was leading the way and three others were walking in a semicircle behind her.

She cast some small glances at her surroundings and from what she could tell, she was still in some kind of airship. But it must be of an immense size, if the small airship, that offered place for her, the two mogs and at least eight soldiers, could land in it and now she was walking down a corridor in which a medium-sized airplane would find place.

Tetran and Lulucce had been hauled off to another direction right after they left the hangar, and they only had the time to exchange a look of concern before they were out of her sight.

Finally Jasmine and her guards approached a translucent door at the back end of the hallway, through which she could make out most of the inside of the adjacent room. It was pretty spacious, too, apparently like anything on the airship, but had large windows at the front end. She could not make out much interior, but that was not so different from the rest of the ship as well.

Inside the room was a rather large crowd of people gathered, some of them soldiers like the ones with her, and some were most certainly prisoners as well, concluding from their cuffed hands.

Right now she could see a slender woman dressed mainly in white with ash blond hair lash out at an older men with a strong, muscular build and yell at him. The door opened and she was pushed into the room and guided to the left corner of it.

There the rude soldier signaled her to stop with a sharp nod of his head and Jasmine had the opportunity to watch her surroundings and her companions in misfortune.

Four people stood there with solidcuffed hands, one of them the man who has been hit a few moments ago. He had long, golden blond hair, that was slicked back off his face and wore slightly torn armor over a white shirt and knee-length brown pants. From where Jasmine stood, she could see that he had a long, nasty scar, that run across his left brow. The woman who has hit him did not wear handcuffs, but it was pretty obvious she was a prisoner as well. Behind the blond man stood a bright blond adolescent wearing a vest and black pants, a brunette male dressed with a white shirt, brown leather vest over it and brown leather pants and beside him stood a tall woman with long white hair, a very provocative black armor and rabbit-like ears...

'Wait, what?!', Jasmine did not believe her eyes. Another strange being in this strange world.

"Come now, come now. Have you forgotten your manners? This is hardly the courtesy due the late Princess Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca." A man in golden armor startled her out of her reverie. He had been a bit hidden from her sight until now, but as Jasmine saw him, a small shudder ran down her spine. His armor was much more refined than the ones of the soldiers she had seen until now. His helmet had a demon-like face with two large downcast horns at the side. "Princess?" the blond boy blurted out with disbelief. "To be sure, she bears no proof of her former station." The Judge moved closer to the side of the woman. "No different than any mean member of the insurgence", he finished deprecatingly. "The Resistance!", the addressed female said with emphasis without turning her head to him.

The man in golden armor finally acknowledged Jasmine. "Ah yes, our long awaited second guest. Doctor Cid will be most pleased to finally get his hands on her." At this comment, the brown haired prisoner looked at her sharply. The Judge moved closer and examined her carefully. "Although I have no idea what he could want from an unimpressive little girl like you. I think his fears for our safety were absolutely unnecessary." Jasmine looked at him puzzled. "Anyway, our little interrogation has to wait, my other present guests require my attentiveness more right now." The Judge nodded to one of the soldiers that were in room, before Jasmine had the chance to respond in any way.

"Sergeant, escort the woman to the brig. I will deal with her later."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The guards pushed her roughly into a cell and locked the door behind her. After she had regained her balance, Jasmine turned around and kicked the door once. "Lemme out of here, you bastards!", she yelled, "I did not do anything wrong!" But as expected, there was no reaction from the outside. She kicked the door again but then she smirked a bit and reached with her still cuffed hands to her pant's back pocket. With some struggle she finally got her hands on a small pouch, wherein her petite screwdrivers for fixing the watches at work laid. After examining the locks of her handcuffs closely, she chose two of the medium sized ones, took one in her right hand, the other one in her mouth, sat down on the small bunk and started to pick the locks. Inwardly she wholeheartedly thanked her old schoolfriend, who insisted that she learned that skill, because you never knew when it would come in handy. He also taught her the art to one-gulp a bottle of beer, but that was not exactly as useful as an adult. So a minute later, the lock gave up with a 'click' and her left hand was uncuffed. Her other hand took her a few moments longer, because she was right-handed but after some more minutes, she was finally free again. Jasmine rubbed her slightly sore wrists and then returned the screwdrivers to their assigned place. Getting up from the bunk, she moved to the door and carefully inspected it to see if she could escape, but after a few minutes of poking and prodding at it she gave up. It looked like it was out of cast iron and there was no visible lock at all. Probably it was only operable from the outside. Furious at being imprisoned, she threw the chains with all her might at the offending cell door. But just in that moment it opened again and the projectile closely missed the person, who now stood in the entrance.

"Whoa, careful there Missy!" A brown haired man cried out, who Jasmine recognized as one of the other prisoners.

"That's not exactly the thank I was hoping for after rescuing you." he said with a smirk, after he regained his composure.

"Who said I needed to be rescued?" Jasmine huffed, a bit irritated by his intrusive attitude. The man eyed her with a wink. "Fine, if you prefer to stay here, be my guest. But if I overheard your little conversation with Judge Magister Ghis correct, you are intended as a guest for Doctor Cid, and under that circumstances you might find my company more pleasurable than his." Jasmine rolled her eyes at that."Okay fine, I will come with you. But only until I find my friends, then I will escape with them!"

"Your sincere gratitude is really quite alluring." He bowed to her teasingly, then turned around and led her down a small hallway, from where countless other prison cells lead off. In the last one, the two of them met the other prisoners again.

"Come on, come on! Let's go! What are you waiting for? Penelo's still out there!", the blond boy claimed agitatedly in that moment.

"We should hurry. They won't be long", Jasmine's savior interrupted from the back of the cell, where the two of them stood. Another man with dark hair and and completely dressed in armor minus the helmet, who was not with them before turned to the woman, referred to as Princess Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca. "We will talk later."

"Wait!" Jasmine exclaimed. Everyone in the small room turned to her and were eying her warily. "We have to find my friends first.", she said with a much quieter voice than before, due to dark looks that were shot at her.

"And who are those friends of yours, Milady?", the older man with blond hair questioned her with a slightly rough voice, but surprisingly kind.

"Two mogs were with me when I was bought about this ship, but we were separated after that. I have to find them, they are probably frightened to death.", Jasmine explained, a bit impatient.

"Do you mean a mog named Tetran and his wife?", the blond boy behind her asked, with dawning realization. Jasmine spun around to him.

"Yes, that are the two! Where are they?", she inquired agitatedly. "Are they alright?"

"Don't worry, they were unhurt." He laid a hand on her shoulder to reassure her and Jasmine let out a breath of relief. "We found them earlier in one of the cells while searching for the princess and after we freed them, they disappeared somewhere. I'm sure they are alright."

"Sorry to disturb your little conversation, but I recommend that we should do the same as these smart mogs and disappear from here.", the man, that saved her earlier interrupted. As if it has waited for his words, suddenly an alarm started to shrill through the ship and the lights faded to red.

"Majesty. We will cut you a path." the blond man said with reassurance and drew a blade.

"I will not place my trust in the sword of a traitor!", the addressed woman spat but the man in armor interrupted her. "Yet trust his sword we must, traitor or no. I see no other way." He eyed the rest of the rest of the group. "We track back, commandeer a ship and make our escape." Everyone nodded at that and the boy grabbed Jasmine's hand and pulled her along with him. The two older man followed behind, after they finished a short conversation.

* * *

While they kept on running, the boy let Jasmine's hand go, but stuck to her side.

"Hey by the way, what's your name", he asked between two gasps for air. She glanced at him and kept going. "I'm Jessie!"

"I am Vaan, nice to meet you, Jessie" He smiled a bit.

"Look Vaan", she wheezed, "let's save the small talk for later." Her lungs started to hurt and her left leg felt like it was on fire. She would not hold out much longer.

Without warning they came to an abrupt hold and Jasmine nearly bumped into the two older men, who had taken the lead along the way. She had to secure her glasses, or else they would have fallen down from the near-collision.

"Well, it seems our luck has run out. The guards have spotted us, get ready to break through!",

the dark haired man shouted and drew a large two-handed sword from his back. Every single one of her companions but her seemed to have some kind of weapon, even Vaan unsheathed a sword.

She stepped back with terror and unexpectedly the brunette man stood beside her. He held a rifle in his one hand and handed her a dagger with his other.

"Just in case one gets through. But do not worry, the leading man will keep you from harm. Just stay close." He smirked at her and then turned his attention to the charging soldiers and readied his gun. Jasmine held the dagger and looked at it with disbelief. She did not feel any more save with it than before.

The two older men stormed with raised weapons towards the enemy and before Jasmine realized it, three of the soldiers fell to the ground. One of the remaining ones attacked Vaan, but the boy held up surprisingly well against him and after a short time he knocked him out. The princess was forced back to the side wall of the corridor by two others, but she defended herself skillfully with a shortsword. The blond man rushed to her help and soon she was rid of the threat.

Suddenly one of the remaining soldiers stumbled through the line of fighting because of a misplaced hit with his mace and his nearest target now was Jasmine. With a sharp yell he charged at her and rose his arm to strike her with his weapon. But just before the hit, he was knocked away with a squeal of pain and an arrow sticking from his weapon wielding arm.

"Keep your guard up.", the bunny-eared woman said smoothly without looking at her and took a new arrow out of her quiver. Jasmine trembled with fear because of the near hit but before she knew it, all of the remaining attackers were dispatched.

"Now that we were discovered, more guardsmen will follow. We must proceed with hurry!", the blond man said after he affirmed that no one was harmed, and lead the way. Vaan, who has sheathed his sword again, saw that Jasmine made no attempt to follow, grabbed her hand again and pulled her along. She, still paralyzed by the event that just happened, let him drag her without any resistance.

But no more incidents occurred on their way and after a minute they reached a large hall, where they ran into two unarmored and rather young people. Vaan jerked to a stop and let go of Jasmine's hand. One of the persons, a young girl with platinum blonde hair looked at him with recognition and squealed a "Vaan!" before she threw herself in his arms. The boy embraced her tenderly and murmured reassuring words in her ears. The other one, a young dark haired boy moved closer to the group and approached the princess.

"Ghis knows you've escaped. You must hurry." He turned to the dark haired knight. „You are Captain Azelas. You will follow me. We must reach the airships before they do."

"You would let us leave knowing who we are?", the addressed man answered with disbelief in his voice.

The boy just smiled thinly in answer and turned back to the princess. "Lady Ashe. By all rights you ought not even to exist. That you and Captain Ronsenburg", he glanced at the blond one of the older men, "were made to appear dead is like a hidden thread laid bare. Your actions hereafter will pull at that thread and we will see what it unravels. This is our chance. We must see this through, and get to the bottom of it. I believe 'tis for the good of Dalmasca, and the good of the Empire."

The dark haired man and the princess exchanged a look. "Very well then.", she said curtly.

"Thanks, 'Lamont'", Vaan said pointedly and at that, the young brunette turned around to him.

"I must apologize.", the addressed boy bowed his head to him slightly. Then he approached the platinum blond girl, who now stood beside Vaan and handed her a small blue stone.

"Penelo, for you. May it bring you good fortune." Jasmine could not exactly see what kind of stone it was, but it made her skin crawl with uneasiness, while she looked at it. However, it stopped, as the girl - Penelo - put it away into a pocket of her jumpsuit.

"Let us go.", the boy had turned back to the older man, and after he exchanged a curt nod with the blonde knight, he followed the boy down another corridor.

The rest of the group continued the way they were going before and soon reached a large hangar with openings at its back, that looked like airships would fit through it. They came to a halt, as a reproachful voice resounded through the room from the end of the footbridge.

"Such a great shame." With fear Jasmine recognized the Judge Magister in his golden armor. But this time he held two very dangerous-looking weapon in his hands. "I must confess: I thought you the one who would help us restore peace to Dalmasca.", he continued talking while he sauntered slowly towards the group, where the blonde knight positioned himself protectively in front of the princess. Penelo drew close to Vaan, who unsheathed his sword again and awaited the upcoming attack of the Judge. Jasmine still held the dagger in her hand because she had no place where she could put it, but compared to the long sword and the multi-bladed claw-like other of the Judge it looked like a toy. She stumbled back to the rest of the group and came to a stop behind the two adolescents.

Unnoticed by them two soldiers closed in from behind them, so they were surrounded now, and at that moment Judge Ghis finally had reached the end of the bridge. "No matter. We hold the proof of your royal lineage. A maid of passing resemblance will serve our purposes now." He took both his weapons into his left hand and suddenly the air over his raised right hand started to flicker and a red ball of energy started to form. Jasmine did not believe her eyes. What kind of trick was _that_? "As for you, my dear..." The ball grew bigger and brighter. "The Empire requires you no more!", he shouted and hurled the ball of energy at the group. Jasmine cried out in horror and squeezed her eyes shut but the instant before it hit them, the red light of it turned blue and dissipated. Jasmine carefully opened one eye, after no impact happened and she saw Penelo holding the strange blue stone in her hands. It glowed in a bright blue light, that made her guts churning and she nearly doubled over from sudden physical pain, that felt as if her soul was ripped out of her body. But no one noticed, everyone's attention was on the stone.

"What was that?", Penelo asked in wonder, still holding the stone close to her heart.

"The Nethicite!", the brown haired man answered with a firm voice.

Abruptly they were startled out of their inspection, as the Judge Magister started to laugh menacingly. "Your Majesty does not disappoint!" Ashe turned around and with a hateful look she rushed past the blond knight and stopped a few feet in front of the Judge with her raised shortsword.

"Ever quick to spurn an honorable surrender, as was your father", he stated reproachful.

"You know nothing of my father!", the princess spat and charged at him.

"Majesty!" With three long strides the blonde knight was at her side and together they attacked the Judge. Vaan defended himself and Penelo from one of the soldiers and finally the girl put the stone away from Jasmine's sight. Immediately her vision cleared up and the pain started to fade. She took one deep breath but for more she had no time, as she still was in the line of attack. Jasmine did her best to stay out of the way to be no hindrance, as she was of no use to them with the dagger she still held in her hands and the queasy feeling in her body. Then a shot broke through the sound of the battle around her and with an outcry the Judge Magister dropped his swords to hold his now injured shoulder. His helm fell down with a bang and for the first time Jasmine could see his face. He was a rather old man with gray hair and his face a grimace of rage. Behind her the last one of the soldiers collapsed on the floor, felled by Vaan's sword.

But before one of them could strike the Judge again, the dark haired knight barged into the hangar and waved his hand at them. "We've secured an Atomos. Come!", and with that he turned around again and departed with the others running behind him. With a last look on the injured Judge, Jasmine followed them.

"An Atomos? All skiff, no ship. Hardly fit for a leading man", the brown haired man muttered disappointed.

"So I can fly it then?", Vaan asked exited, but the rabbit-woman gave him a pointed look.

"Are you mad?" And they kept on running to the promised airship.


	6. Chapter 5

AN: Tadaaa, next Chapter :)

My holidays slowly come to an end, so no more time for writing all day :( I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Thanks again to all my readers and even more to the people who left a review :)

Some words on the 'messy dialogs': I tried to keep to game's actual dialog script, so the fault of the 'messiness' lies with square :P

But seriously, I will try to integrate them better in the future or modify them, so they will work better with the flow of the story.

So, on with it!

.

.~.

.

**Chapter 5**

The Atomos was as large as the other airship Jasmine has been transported with not even a day ago. The group had rushed to the cockpit, where the rabbit-woman sat down in front of the steering control and instantly started the engines.

"Can't we go faster?", Penelo stood behind her and nervously looked out of the front pane at the many different airships, that flew around the Leviathan.

"Not yet", came the calm reply, while the white-haired female kept a steady pace. One of the other airships drew awfully close to them and the brown-haired man ordered a sharp "Heads down!". Everyone took cover somewhere in the cockpit and Jasmine let herself drop into one of the seats present in the cockpit and hid behind the back of the one in font of her until the princess uttered a relieved "They passed!".

"Any faster and they'd have noticed." Finally the rabbit-eared female accelerated the ship and they left the Leviathan far behind them.

* * *

Jasmine looked at the clouds floating below the airship, while gathering her courage. Everyone had taken a seat in the cockpit and made themselves comfortable. In front of her Vaan was sitting next to Penelo, who chatted with him in a low but happy voice, to fill him in what had happened to her until now. Jasmine did not catch every detail , but it seemed as if she had been abducted by some villains and somehow got saved by the young boy from the Leviathan - Larsa -, who seemed to be some kind of royalty, too. Her savior had taken the place beside the rabbit-woman and was assisting her with steering the airship. The princess had seated herself in the last row, where she was sometimes whispering with the dark haired knight and the place in front of them was occupied by the blond knight, who had his eyes closed and appeared to be asleep. The seat next to Jasmine was empty and that did make it pretty obvious again, that she was not really welcome here. Until now, no one has questioned her presence, but she was sure that these questions would come sooner or later. So she decided, that sooner would be better and she leaned a bit forward in her seat.

"So, where are we going to?", Jasmine tried to keep her voice light.

'Well, talk about getting attention', she thought as most of the heads turned to her at that comment.

"Well, before we tell you that, we should determine if you are going there as a guest or as a prisoner." Her savior had raised from his seat and stood leaning with his back on it to face her.

"Oh nice," Jasmine answered a bit sarcastic, "First you play the knight in shining armor and presume that I needed to be rescued and now you want to be the prison guard yourself. I see, I could just have stayed in my cell", she finished with a huff.

The addressed man smirked at her and raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "Now now, we will want to keep this peaceful, wouldn't we? Let us start with the most important things first: I am no mere knight, my dear, but the leading man. And it would be a pleasure if you would let us now about your role in this little story."

"Well, I think my role in this story is about being at the wrong time in the wrong place and being mistaken for the wrong person." Jasmine straightened her glasses a bit to hide her uneasiness.

"Is that so?", he asked with clear doubt in his voice. "Well then, let's start with something easier, like you telling us your name."

She could see no threat in that question, so Jasmine answered truthfully "I am Jessie.".

"Ah, a beautiful name for a beautiful young lady." Jasmine's ears turned a bit red at this exaggerated flattery, even if she did not take it for real. "And how should I call you, my savior?", she asked wryly, trying to play down the fact that he had such an effect on her.

The man performed a curtly bow in her direction. "The name is Balthier, at your service. " Jasmine's just calmed ears started to burn again at this blunt flirtation. She quickly turned her attention to the boy, that sat in front of her and the girl beside him. Both had turned around to her and were now kneeling in their seats, looking at her over the headrest. "We know each other already", Vaan said with a cheeky grin and Jasmine nodded her head with a smile. Without taking his eyes off of her, he pointed to his left. "And this is..."

"I'm Penelo!", he was interrupted by the girl beside him, who nudged him in his side. Jasmine grinned at her, and Penelo smiled back brightly. "You know, Vaan, I can talk for myself", she gave the boy, who rubbed his slightly bruised ribs a pointed look. He grinned at her sheepishly and mumbled a "sorry".

"Hey, are you two siblings or something?", Jasmine asked, amazed by their easy banter and their slight resemblance.

Penelo shook her head determinedly. "Nah, we're not. But we grew up together, so I had to endure his impoliteness for a rather long time already." This time it was her turn to get poked into the ribs and the two adolescents engaged in a playful brawl.

"Well, now that the children introduced themselves" Balthier started but was instantly interrupted by Vaan. "I'm no child! I'm seventeen already!", he grumbled, but then returned his attention to Penelo who still was attacking his ribs.

"What I wanted to say before our young friend here interrupted", he threw a dark glance at Vaan,

"Let me introduce my partner to you. This is Fran.", he pointed behind his back at the rabbit-woman. The addressed woman did not show any signs of attentiveness but a twitch of her right ear. Jasmine did not really know if she should say something to her and so she just stared at her once again wondering about this strange creature. Balthier seemed to notice this. "Not many Viera where you come from, huh?", he asked and Jasmine just nodded her head.

"Hey, where _do_ you come from actually?" Vaan inquired with curiosity. "The clothes you wear are really strange. I've never seen these kind before." What brought him another nudge at his side in return and a whispered "Vaan, don't be rude!" from Penelo.

"Well, from a place far away." Jasmine had decided not to tell them the whole truth for the time being and settled with an evasive answer.

"Oh really?" Balthier looked down at his fingernails, apparently distracted.. "Now you piqued my interest. I have traveled a lot, so maybe I have heard of this 'far away' place.", he finished and looked at her intently.

'Dammit, this man is persistent!', she thought sourly and settled for the truth. "I'm from earth.", she said curtly.

"Urth?", he crooked his head. "I must say, I never heard of that place before." He seemed to have misunderstood her, but either he did not really care about that or he did not believe her at all - Jasmine could not really distinguish his expression. But it seemed like he did not even want to dwell on that subject.

"See, that was not that difficult. So, let's continue with your presence on that airship. Why were you there?", he gave her a penetrating look.

Jasmine threw her hands in the air frustratedly. "I have told you already! I was mistaken for some other person and I have no idea what they wanted." She took a deep breath. "I was kidnapped in the middle of the night, in a blasted cavern where the mogs and me were..." she trailed off with growing horror. She had totally forgotten about them. "Oh my god!", she whispered.

"What's wrong?", Vaan asked, concerned by her sudden change of mood.

"I abandoned them!" Tears sprung to her eyes. "I left them alone on that terrible ship. It is my fault if something happens to them!" Vaan did not understand and just looked at her dumbfounded.

"How could I forget them?" Jasmine bolted from her seat. "We have to turn back and save them!" She wanted to storm to the front to either grab the Viera or the controls herself, which of it she didn't know.

"Whoa, slow down there Missy! We will not fly back to the Leviathan." Balthier held his hands up defensively but Jasmine did not listen to him. She would make them turn the damn airship around!

Without warning a strong pair of arms laid around Jasmine from behind and secured her arms at the side of her body, to stop her rage.

"Let me go!", she cried and jerked her body around to free herself, "I have to save them! Let me go, you bastard!" But the blonde knight behind her did not flinch, not even when Jasmine succeeded in kicking his shin quite forceful . He just stood there without any movement and waited fur her fury to subside. Eventually Jasmine's movements lessened and she just stood there with tears freely flowing down her cheeks. Aside from her feeble sobs it was deadly quiet in the cockpit after her sudden outburst. Finally the knight lightened his hold on her a bit, sensing that the girl in his arms would no longer be a threat. "I am sorry. But we can not turn back, it would be madness.", he rumbled in a low voice and finally let her go. For a moment Jasmine just stood there motionless, but then she turned around and stormed past him out of the cockpit.

* * *

She did not know how long she had sitting in the back of the ship, crying. But after some time she had no tears left and finally even her dry sobs subsided. So now she was sitting on the cold floor of the airship, leaning her back at the wall with her glasses in her hand and the sleeves of her pullover wet with her soaked up tears. With reddened eyes she stared at the blurry wall without really seeing anything.

A hand with a handkerchief appeared unforeseen in front of her face. Jasmine looked up and saw a blurred Penelo beside her.

"Here. Maybe you need it", she said with a small smile and sat down beside Jasmine.

"Thanks, Penelo." She used the offered handkerchief to wipe away the last remainder of her tears and then put her glasses back on her nose.

"Vaan told me about the two mogs. They were your friends, weren't they?"

Jasmine shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know if I can call them friends, I did not even know them for two days. But without them I might have died in that mountain." Jasmine smiled weakly, as she thought about their first meeting. "I was hurt by a very bad accident and they found me there. They gave me some painkillers and sometimes they had to nearly drag me behind them while we walked. If they would have just left me there, they would not have been captured." She sighed.

"I think they are your friends and really good people", Penelo said with determination. "And I am sure, that they have made it off the ship!" She grinned. "Mogs are known to be survivalists."

"It would be nice if you are right", Jasmine said with little hope in her voice.

"Believe me, you will see them again someday."

Before Jasmine could respond, the door to the cargo hold where the two girls sat, was opened carefully and Vaan poked his head in.

"Uhm, are you alright?", he asked insecurely and did not move from his spot at the door.

Penelo smiled slightly and Jasmine gave him a faint nod.

"Well, Fran said that we will land in a while, and we better should strap ourselves in. Wanna come back to the cockpit?"

Jasmine smiled halfheartedly. "Well, I guess _want_ is not the right word here, but better feel bad from being gaped at, then from breaking your bones in the landing. And I certainly don't want any more injuries than I already have." She pointed at her still seriously injured left leg.

"You are hurt?" Penelo asked her with alarm.

"Yeah it's from my crash and I still did not find any first-aid kits to use for it. And the scumbags aboard that airship were not exactly helpful, either." She rolled the left leg from her by now blood encrusted leatherpants up to her knee, so the two could see the rather nasty wounds on her leg. Penelo gasped at the sight of it. Some parts of it were finally starting to heal, but around her knee blood was oozing out and trickling slowly down her leg. 'Must have happened from the whole running around', Jasmine thought with growing uneasiness. "One of you does not have a bandage by any chance? I'm tired of bleeding on myself."

"I will heal you right now", Penelo looked at her with reproval. "But why didn't you say anything earlier? " She held her hands in the air in front of her leg and concentrated but Jasmine just looked at her bewildered. What was the girl doing there? Suddenly a faint green light appeared around Penelo's hands and she murmured a soft "Cura". Jasmine felt a small tingle on her skin, but otherwise nothing seemed to happened. Now it was Penelo's turn to look at Jasmine completely baffled.

"What's wrong Penelo?" Vaan asked with a hint of impatience. "Hurry up and heal her already. I don't want to be shaken up in here."

"Shut up, Vaan! I _tried_ to heal her, but as you can see nothing happened." The girl knitted her brows.

"What were you trying to do anyway?", Jasmine questioned her with curiosity, for this was the second time that a person created some strange light without any obvious trick.

"Heal you, of course." Penelo looked at her with disbelief. "But maybe my magick is not powerful enough at the moment", she trailed off and looked at Jasmine's leg with puzzlement.

'Magick??' Jasmine thought dumbfounded. This world was getting stranger with any passing moment. But she would not dwell on it now.

"So, no support for my leg right now, right?", she tried to keep her voice light and both teenager shook their heads at her. "Well, it can't be helped. But thank you for trying anyway, Penelo." She carefully rolled the leg of her pants back down and rose from her spot on the floor. Then the three of them returned to the cockpit.

* * *

All conversation had died down the moment Jasmine stepped through the door and wordlessly moved back to her previous seat. She could feel the concerned looks everyone was giving her, but she did not really care about them anymore. She was completely exhausted, both physically and emotionally, so she just secured her seatbelt and leaned back in her seat with closed eyes. She did not want to deal with anyone right now and so she slowly dozed off to the more peaceful state of unconsciousness.


End file.
